Beloved Documentarian St. Clair Bourne Dies Tragically

The documentary community is stunned by the tragic death of beloved filmmaker St. Clair Bourne, who passed away on December 14, due to pulmonary embolisms following surgery for a non-malignant brain tumor. Bourne was 64 years old, and was working on a series of films chronicling the history of the Black Panthers for PBS.

During the past 36 years, Bourne produced, directed and wrote some 45 films for HBO, PBS, NBD, BBC and National Geographic, and independently. His highly acclaimed films profile the leaders and artists, history and culture of the African-American community.

Bourne was probably best known for Making "Do the Right Thing,", a behind-the-scenes look at Spike Lee's well-known feature film, and for his feature-length documentaries, Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks and Paul Robeson: Here I Stand.

Bourne was a founder of the New York-based Black Documentary Collective, the Los Angeles-based Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers-West and of Filmmaker Magazine. His accomplishments made Bourne a giant among filmmakers, but it was his extraordinary generosity towards others in the community for which he was most revered.

On December 21, the Black Documentary Collective held a private celebration of Bourne's life and work at its offices on East 131 Street in New York. There will be a public memorial service for Bourne at 7 p.m. on January 25 at the Riverside Church, 490 Riverside Drive in Manhattan.

For more detailed information about St. Clair Bourne and his work, read his obituary in the Los Angeles Times. Or, visit Bourne's own Website, Chamba Notes, which is still accessible.

(PHOTO: St. Clair Bourne (c) Chester Higgins, Jr./The New York Times).